Friday, January 31, 2014

Saturday To-Do: Those Darlins

I guess folks get into certain things and then one day they're not so into those things and they're on to some different thing. Maybe one day it's all the thing to be wearin' cowboy boots and cloggin' and singin' songs about a-drankin' and a-hell-raisin' while donning all manner of twangy, old-timey affectations.

Then a little while later that's not so much the thing, and they get into different things like, for instance, early rock 'n' roll and those ghostly, reverb-slathered girl-group hits of the early '60s and maybe The 13th Floor Elevators. Then later on they move away from that somewhat and they get real into The Ramones but also artsier stuff, and they make videos with all their friends shakin' their asses to an upbeat tune that sounds like something off the first Donnas album, and it's the kinda thing that makes cynical, jerkwad music critics go, "Aw man, who cares about the lineup changes and the stylistic 180s, that's some pretty excellent ass-shakin' right there." And then you think, "Hey, that's a pretty good song even it there wasn't any ass-shakin' video." You follow?

So go see Those Darlins doing their thing, because even though it's not the thing they were doing a couple of years ago, it's a real good thing right now. Also performing at this 18-and-older show: Darlins tourmates Bully and sultry electro-pop maestros Collin Vs. Adam.

On the lasting ripple effect of Chris Selby's Clunk Music Hall.

Little Rock’s leading harbingers of doom return with a new album, “Foundations of Burden.”

You've got to figure that a band from frozen-ass Winnipeg is just gonna be way gnarlier and tougher than a band from some sun-kissed tropical clime where people wear tank tops and flip-flops year-round.

New music from Isaac Alexander.

A packed episode this week of "No Small Talk": a chat with Katy Henriksen, from Of Note on KUAF; Stephanie Smittle breaks down the Spring Arts issue; and we finish up with just a tiny bit of Oscar chatter.